Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)

I support the other Senators who spoke about the situation in Gaza and in Israel, which is very serious. I realise the Leader has a very busy schedule coming up to the end of the session but we should ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Dermot Ahern, to call for a meeting of the Security Council because the United Nations is standing idly by in this regard. The direction is coming from Washington. The President has stated Israel's right to defend itself. In this case a soldier was kidnapped. A settler has been murdered. Fourteen young Palestinians were murdered by the Israelis. It is tit for tat and excessive force is being used. Israel does not want to rescue the soldier. It wants to murder because it suits its cause to go back into Gaza.